Introduction

Skeptics have said that the biblical creation account fails, since it claims
that plants appeared before animals.1
Originally, the scientific evidence showed that animals appeared within the
oceans (during the Ediacaran period of the late Precambrian, ~580 million years
ago) before plants appeared on the land (~450 million years ago). Did the Bible
get it wrong?

First land plants

Beginning in 2009, scientists pushed back the probable development of complex
photosynthetic plants on land to ~850 million years ago through the study of
carbon isotope ratios in Precambrian rocks.2
However, since the evidence was merely isotopic in nature, the data was not
completely definitive. However, in 2011, a study was published that pushed back
the date of the origin of photosynthetic eukaryotes on land to at least one billion years ago,
including fossil evidence of their existence.3
These organisms were different from the photosynthetic cyanobacteria
(procaryotes) that had inhabited the planet since at least 3.5 billion years
ago. These were true multi-cellular eukaryotes. Although algae-like, these
organisms were much more complex than their procaryotic counterparts.

The Bible's claim

Skeptics like to say that the Bible is not testable, but then go on to
say that it gets the creation account wrong. One of the main points of
contention was the Bible's claim that land plants (day 3) were created
before animals (day 5). Let's look at the Bible's account of the creation of
plants:

Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation:
seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it,
according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced
vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing
fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was
good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the third day. (Genesis
1:11-13)

The English word translated "vegetation" in the above passage comes from the Hebrew word deshe',
which refers to small plants, such as grasses and herbs.4
The other word, ‛eśeb, translated "plants" is even more generic, referring
to any kind of green plant.5 Although the
passage refers to trees that bear fruit with seed, the term "seed" in Hebrew
refers to any kind of offspring,6 and not just
the seeds of angiosperms. The Bible's claim that plants appeared on the land
before animals has been mocked for decades, but now appears to be true. The
Bible predicts that scientists will likely find evidence of more complex
plants as they examine more Precambrian rocks. Stay tuned for future
updates.

Conclusion

The Bible's creation account has been subject to much derision due to
apparent contradictions with the record of nature. However, recently discovered
fossil evidence shows that the Bible is correct in claiming that land plants
appeared before animals in the oceans. The recently discovered evidence is a
surprising confirmation of the biblical creation account to secular scientists.
However, as believers, we should expect that scientists will find more evidence
of even more complex plant life as more Precambrian rocks are studied.

Reasons
To Believe's third in a series of books proposing a testable creation model
takes on the origin and design of the universe. Previous books,
Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off
and Who
Was Adam?: A Creation Model Approach to the Origin of Man, examined the
origin of life on earth and the origin of mankind, respectively. Creation As Science develops a biblical creation model and compares
the predictions of this model compared to a naturalistic model, young earth
creationism, and theistic evolution. This biblical creation model is divided
into four main areas, the origin of the universe, the origin of the Solar
System, the history of life on earth, and the origin and history of mankind.

Darwin's Black Box author Michael Behe takes on the limits of
evolution through an examination of specific genetic examples. Behe finds that
mutation and natural selection is capable of generating trivial examples of
evolutionary change. Although he concludes that descent with modification has
occurred throughout biological history, the molecular devices found
throughout nature cannot be accounted for through natural selection and
mutation. Behe's book claims to develop a framework for testing intelligent
design by defining the principles by which Darwinian evolution can be
distinguished from design.

References

Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation:
seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it,
according to their various kinds." And it was so... And there was evening, and
there was morning--the third day. (Genesis 1:11-13)
Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let
birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens." ...There was
evening and there was morning, a fifth day. (Genesis 1:20-23)